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Just finished Moby Dick. I checked my previous post in this thread for a start date.
It took me a few days over a year to complete. I am a ponderous reader.
Reading season will be ending soon (I hope).

Free to canoe

Good for you!. I've read it twice. Once in high school. Once as part of the Great Books Discussion club. It's a classic for good reason. It can be difficult to get through but is ultimately worth it.

Here is another excerpt from pp. 264-265. Here you'll see that Browne was not advocating throwing caution to the wind and burning your 401(k) on a Ferraris and nose candy. What most see as courage is really the result of having weighed action vs. inaction and finding the logical conclusion supported by the weight of evidence even if the conclusion may be contrary to the popular opinion.

Quote:

Courage

You may feel that you don’t have the courage to make big changes in your life.
But courage is too often thought of as blind, thoughtless bravado. It usually isn’t.
People who seem to act “courageously” usually have specific consequences in
mind; they know the consequences both of acting and not acting. They’ve decided
that the consequences of not acting are worse than the consequences of what we
consider to be their courageous acts.
We don’t necessarily know what their motivations are (they might be expectations
of good things to come, fear of being thought a coward, desire for attention, etc.), but the person acting believes he knows.

When you’re convinced you know the consequences of either course, you’ll take
action. If you have to walk through a dangerous mob to get to safety on the other
side of the street, you’ll do so only when you’re convinced that the consequences of
standing still are more dangerous than moving. Until then, any talk of bravery is
meaningless.

That’s why it’s important to think things out in advance. Recognize the problems
involved and how you’ll cope with them. And recognize the benefits that await you;
focus on them and remember them when things get difficult.
Once you can see and almost taste the good consequences of being free, once you
know how to handle the prices you’ll have to pay to get there, you’ll be impatient to start. You won’t lack the courage.

Certainly there will be many unknowns — and they can be frightening. But they
don’t have to remain unknowns. Identify the elements that are mysterious to you and then try to get the information necessary to take the mystery out of them.
If someone’s attitude is an unknown factor, ask him what his attitude is. If an
unknown factor is the motivation of someone who’s causing problems for you, go to him and get it out into the open. Find out what he’s trying to accomplish. He may not be articulate enough to explain it, so cultivate the art of asking enough questions to get the answers you need.

It’s amazing how many mysteries of life can be dissolved just by asking questions.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions like “How would you feel if I were to make some
changes?” “What’s the matter with our situation?” “Are you upset with me?” Develop the technique of asking for what you want to know.
Often someone will tell you that the answer will depend upon circumstances. If
so, find out what circumstances. Keep asking until you know what standard he’s using to determine the circumstances.

For example, suppose you’re considering changing jobs but there’s a possibility of
a big raise coming soon — only you don’t know when or how big the raise will be.
Find out. Keep asking questions until you know what the circumstances must be in
order to get your raise. “Do you intend to give me a raise? . . . How much? . . .
When? . . . What does it depend upon? . . . What must happen to permit the raise?”
Have him define such vague terms as “substantial raise,” “increased business,”
“soon,” “better quality work,” etc. Then you can determine if it’s worth your while to wait for it.

When you clear up all the mysteries, it will be much easier to act. You’ll know
why you’re acting.

I just finished "The girl who kicked the hornet's nest " . I have read all three of the books and IMHO the first and the third book were the best but you have to read the second book to understand the third .

I found Moby Dick to be a deep and poetic read. It is a masterpiece and I am glad that I read it.

Free to canoe

It is my favorite book, and I have read it slowly and thoughtfully a number of times. It is in fact poetry, and the fact that you realize that tells me that you understand the beauty of this book. The quote in my sig line is one that I noticed during one of those reads and found to be meaningful for me in many different times of my life.

__________________"You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore." - - - C. Columbus

I found Moby Dick to be a deep and poetic read. It is a masterpiece and I am glad that I read it.

Free to canoe

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R

It is my favorite book, and I have read it slowly and thoughtfully a number of times. It is in fact poetry, and the fact that you realize that tells me that you understand the beauty of this book. The quote in my sig line is one that I noticed during one of those reads and found to be meaningful for me in many different times of my life.

I read Moby Dick almost 50 years ago I remember it fondly. 100 Years of Solitude remains my all time fav. But I am reluctant to re-read them for fear of spoiling the magic.

__________________
Every man is, or hopes to be, an Idler. -- Samuel Johnson

Finished The Quantum World by Ford. This covers the basics of QM in a qualitative fashion (no equations). Good discussions of wave/particle duality, Feynman diagrams, etc. Some physics history too. I think this is a good reference book when you are done. Some nice tables in the appendix summarize particle properties so one can see some of the order appearing out of the many particle types and properties.

Some discussion of black holes, dark energy, etc. but most of the book is about all that boring stuff that everyone already knows about and cannot get into at cocktail parties.

Warrior Politics by Robert Kaplan. You either love him or hate him, I love him.

It is my belief that most of us and most of our leaders tend to operate too much from "principle", and not enough from a careful analysis of what will be most useful to us. Kaplan gives a lot of the history to this idea.

Finished reading another interesting book which I borrowed from the public library (you see, am trying to enjoy public benefits which I've contributed via tax). The book is called GREAT IKEA! by Elen Lewis. This is indeed a lively book and written very well. Do you know what IKEA stands for? How come the pricing can be so low? How come swedish designed furniture appeals globally (apparently, except Japan)? It invented flat pack furniture, etc etc. The book starts off with this paragraph "Life is like assembling Ikea furniture: it's hard to understand what the purpose is, you are unable to put the pieces together, an important part is always missing and the final result is never at all what you'd hoped for." Highly recommended reading.

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